Operation Tamaranian Freedom
by racle
Summary: A historical documentary of the eleven year conflict between the DreknathianGordanian alliance and the Tamaranian Empire.
1. Prologue: Seeds of War

Prologue: Seeds of War

The planet Tamaran was one of the most beautiful and prosperous planets in the Vega star cluster. All was calm and quiet; the people were content, the land pristine. The unbridled joy necessary for Tamaranian flight was felt by all save one.

Komand'r, better known as Blackfire, the disinherited elder princess of Tamaran, and now the Chief Ambassador of Dreknath IV, still held the ambition of the crown within her. King Gigrrisklechhh had given her an excellent post in the Dreknathian royal court, and it satisfied her mostly; but she continued to harbor the desire for revenge against her people.

Ambassador Blackfire's ungranted throne wish would soon return to haunt Tamaran and its people.

While Tamaran enjoyed its peace and prosperity, the Dreknath IV swamp moons, at Blackfire's urging, were arming for war. Despite this, King Gigrrisklechhh had initially been unwilling to start a war with Tamaran; since they were on equal footing, he felt that the risk of defeat was too much. A lower-ranking Dreknathian palace official recalled the decision:

_"At the time we seemed to be all for fighting a war, as long as we could be sure to win. That was the thing a lot of us were worried about—we knew that Tamaranian technology was far better than our own and we thought we'd lose if we went to war. We thought, if we could get assistance from a technologically proficient race, like the Gordanians, then we'd be all set. That was the safest route for a war so we went that way."_

On June 21, 2007, Blackfire spoke for the first time to a high-ranking Gordanian official, who has requested that we not name him. As a result, official diplomatic ties were established between the Gordanian and Dreknathian governments. The decision to ally was made shortly thereafter, and around July 1 (the exact date is not known) a formal alliance treaty was signed. Shortly thereafter, military planners from both sides began meeting to plan a campaign against Tamaran.

General Qrqxcran, the highest-ranking Dreknathian official to survive the war, offered some crucial insights into the Dreknathian war planning process:

_"I think the date was July 17 or 18 when we first tried to figure the details. We thought a coalition between Karma (the Gordanian homeworld) and Dreknath would be perfect for a planetary occupation. When you subdue and occupy a hostile planet, actually when you fight any war, there are three things you need to ensure victory: technological superiority over your enemy, greater numbers, and a firm commitment to the cause. We Dreknathians had the numbers; as an insectoid race, we always have extra population, but the problem is that we have limited technology. Well, the Gordanians had the technology. So that problem was solved; the Gordanians could subdue the high-tech Tamaranian units while we Dreknathians did the grunt work patrolling and holding down the fort."_

From a tactical standpoint, the partnership between Gordanians and Dreknathians worked perfectly. Occupying and holding enemy territory is, after all, very demanding in terms of manpower (or insectpower, in the case of the Dreknathians). However, the Dreknathian war planners also knew the importance of winning the "hearts and minds" of the Tamaranian people. Qrqxcran's men (insects?) did not neglect this:

_"Then that left another problem—what pretext would we use to invade Tamaran? Our propagandists met with the Gordanians' to figure out the excuse. We initially thought of claiming that Tamaran was a threat because of its large arsenal, but Tamaranians have always been the most peaceful and undeserving of attack among all the races we know. We considered fabricating a border dispute to justify a war. Ambassador Komand'r (Blackfire)came up with the idea to democratize the Tamaranian monarchy. We could not think of a higher-sounding pretext than that, so we chose to go with her idea."_

Unfortunately, neither civilization could claim to be a paragon of democracy. Everyone knew that an invasion to spread democracy would have no credibility unless a full-fledged democratic government joined the invasion. With this in mind, Blackfire contacted a high-level official in the United States government (the official has requested that we not use her name in this documentary) to propose an alliance. On July 22, 2007, the United States signed the alliance treaty.

This leads to an interesting question: Why was the United States, already beset with problems within its own empire, willing to take part in a war so far from Earth? American officials refused to speak to us regarding this matter, but widespread speculation falls on the Tamaranians' possession of highly advanced solar power technology, a renewable energy resource that the United States sorely needed, due to dwindling sources of fossil fuels on Earth. It may also be no coincidence that Tamaran, due to a long history of energy conservation, has the largest known petroleum reserves of any planet in the sector.

Thus, the Dreknathian and Gordanian governments began a massive propaganda campaign. For the next four months, flyers and brochures went out with gruesome pictures of Tamaranian torture chambers. Public broadcasts through satellite television and subspace radio described the excesses of the Emperor Galifore's royal court and the abject suffering of Tamaranian commoners. The American government began to lend official diplomatic support to Tamaranian citizens who had been convicted of sedition or slander. Dreknathian flyers were secretly dispersed in Tamaranian cities and especially in prisons offered the promise of a better life under Dreknathian rule. The war effort became officially known as Operation Tamaranian Freedom, and the alliance soon received the nickname of "Coalition of the Willing."

Upon learning of the Coalition propaganda campaign, the Tamaranian ruler, Emperor Galifore, immediately ordered an opposite campaign on the Tamaranian side, in the hopes of persuading the Dreknathian and Gordanian citizens to turn away from war. It is generally accepted that the Tamaranian propaganda failed for three reasons: First, the Gordanian and American governments went to great lengths to keep the Tamaranian propaganda from being seen by their people. Second, the Dreknathians lacked the technology to receive Tamaranian broadcasts and mostly were not intelligent enough to understand the Tamaranian flyers and brochures. Finally, the Coalition governments were completely confident of a quick victory.

It became more and more apparent that the two sides would come to blows. Throughout the month of November, an ever-growing fleet of Gordanian warships began to orbit the outskirts of the Tamaran star system. Aboard them was an army that by November 30 numbered 800,000 Dreknathians, 110,000 Gordanians, 25,000 humans, and 45,000 human-controlled Slade-bots. It all went together; as in General Qrqxcran's oration to the army the night before the invasion:

_"Tomorrow we will set out on a cause more righteous than any that moved us to war before. Three sovereign nations have combined for the cause of democracy. We are about to war with the Tamaranian regime, but let us remember that our eventual purpose is the liberation of the Tamaranian people._

_"Bringing freedom to Tamaran will be a monumental task, one which none of our peoples can accomplish alone. That is why we have joined our three peoples into a coalition of the willing. Each of us has a contribution to make. With the numbers of Dreknath, the technology of Gordania, and the ideals of America, we can prevail. Tomorrow we will begin our crusade for freedom at the doorstep of the most powerful bastion of tyranny in our sector. Soon liberty will be at hand for the long-suffering people of Tamaran!"_

General Qrqxcran later said of his speech that night:

_"My voice was shaking when I made that speech. To this day I am still shocked how many Gordanian troops seemed to believe me when I didn't even believe my own words. I was carrying out the orders of my sovereign, to whom I am irrevocably bound by duty. It was necessary to inspire the troops; Blackfire wrote that speech for me and I delivered it. They weren't my own words; certainly not my conviction, and I almost wonder how a war got started on anything like that. I guess the basic instinct to seek resources is really very powerful for every species in the universe."_

When the Coalition declaration of war was delivered to the Tamaranian Embassy on Dreknath on December 1, no one expected the war to last beyond the end of the year. The public mood on Dreknath and Karma was quite jubilant and excited. No one was prepared for the next eleven years of death and destruction.


	2. Weapons and Wits: The Battle of Galarak

**Part I: Weapons and Wits**

In the early morning hours of November 16, 2007, the Tamaranian royal council met for what was to be the final time. All over the planet militias were gathering, supplies being stockpiled, windows and doors boarded up. The Tamaranian council was about to make a final change to the war plan, one which most analysts now believe turned out to be the key to the ultimate victory of the Tamaranian Empire.

That morning, the Tamaranian Navy, containing nearly all the warships under Tamaranian control, departed the star system. With most of the Gordanian ships still not having arrived, the Tamaranian fleet evaded any engagement with the enemy before abandoning their home planet.

Two weeks later, when the massive Gordanian formations finally entered the Tamaran system, the planet was at the mercy of the invaders. Finding only token resistance, the Gordanian ships descended on Tamaran, putting down the Coalition army of some 980,000 troops on the main oil fields of the western continent. By nightfall on December 1, the invaders controlled nearly two-thirds of the petroleum and half of the natural gas on Tamaran, killed 68 Tamaranian troops, and captured another 2,000.

The Coalition forces had walked right into a trap, which the Tamaranian officials agree was the brainchild of Prince Richard Grayson, known to most of the outside world as Nightwing. On the night of December 1, all 6,000 oil wells and many of the pipelines in the occupied territory simultaneously exploded, interrupting the Gordanian fortification construction work and destroying almost 10 percent of the Coalition army's heavy tanks and vehicles, and killing or wounding about 2,000 Coalition troops. Difficult-to-extinguish fires ignited in many of the wells; all the Tamaranian oil-handling facilities were damaged beyond repair. The invaders would have to rebuild the facilities themselves.

The Battle of Galarak

On December 3, the forces of the Coalition and Tamaran clashed in the first large-scale battle when 300,000 Tamaranian militia and Imperial troops commanded by Crown Princess Koriand'r attacked a column of Dreknathian troops moving towards the nearby city of Galarak. The Coalition column consisted of 30,000 Gordanians, 15,000 Sladebots, and 70,000 Dreknathians under the Dreknathian General Qrqxcran.

From his floating platform in the rear Qrqxcran had directed his troops along the main highway. Always cautious and wary of ambushes or traps in the tall grass, he had placed his 2,000 Gordanian heavy tanks in lines on the flanks of his formation and ordered them to face their turrets to the sides as they drove forward. The tanks were screened by Sladebots which he ordered to march by stepping sideways. Qrqxcran evidently expected to be suddenly attacked from a flank by Princess Koriand'r's highly mobile, flight-capable Tamaranians.

For two days, Qrqxcran's army inched cautiously eastward towards Galarak. Qrqxcran was forced to stop temporarily to build pontoon bridges across the Xisha River, for which the Tamaranians had never needed to build a bridge due to their ability to fly. At this point, Koriand'r, having observed Qrqxcran's precautions against flank ambushes, decided instead to launch a combined-arms assault on the Dreknathian center. On the morning of December 3, four thousand Tamaranian hovertanks and 250,000 militia flew across the river, destroying the partially-built bridges, and attacked all along the front of the Dreknathian army.

In the air, Gordanian starfighters soon descended from the orbiting Gordanian battleships to support Qrqxcran's troops on the ground. About 700 starfighters soon found themselves in "dogfights" with thousands of flying Tamaranian soldiers. The Tamaranians flew randomly around, evading the Gordanian missiles and using their assault rifles to shoot ineffectually at the enemy starfighters. They soon learned to target the cockpits and engines, and succeeded in shooting down about 100 starfighters over the course of the battle.

Nearer the ground, the Dreknathian insect infantry in the center, no match for Tamaranians armed with laser swords, axes, and rifles, were rapidly pushed back. However, reinforcements were forthcoming as the next Coalition column of 10,000 Gordanians and 15,000 Americans rushed to aid Qrqxcran's army. Meanwhile, the Gordanian heavy tanks, quickly redeployed to the center, proved to be better armored and more resistant to damage than the flying Tamaranian hovertanks. Almost all 4,000 Tamaranian tanks were disabled, while 1,000 Gordanian tanks remained functional after the battle.

At this point, the Coalition reinforcements of Gordanian and American troops began to join the battle. The Tamaranian militias, sensing that the battle was not in their favor, exercised their right to life and fled the field, leaving behind their princess with about 30,000 of her Imperial troops. As the elite military unit of Tamaran, these troops would not run from battle even when the odds were heavily against them. However, Koriand'r recognized that the battle had already been lost and ordered her remaining force to withdraw.

In the Battle of Galarak, both sides learned valuable lessons. The defeated Tamaranians realized that the Gordanian armored forces held unquestionable superiority in tank engagements. While Tamaranian armor-piercing shells were on a par with Gordanian tank weapons, the Tamaranian tanks themselves were simply not well armored enough to stand in a fight with Gordanian armor. For their part, the Coalition learned that Tamaranian troops were easily routed in a direct confrontation, but that all Tamaranian forces, from infantry to light armor to heavy tanks, held decisive advantages in mobility.

The Qak-Zandat Massacre

Even though the Tamaranians were disappointed over the loss at Galarak, they were consoled by the news of a stunning victory elsewhere—achieved not by force of arms, but by wits and cunning. During the same time as the Battle of Galarak, another Coalition army—this one comprised of 150,000 Dreknathians, 10,000 Americans, and 30,000 Sladebots under the Gordanian general Xa'wilik, advanced on the other major city near the oilfields, Qak-Zandat to the southeast. Xa'wilik was a brash and bold commander, unlike Qrqxcran, and he was fortunate not to have been subjected to an ambush, as he marched his troops rapidly forward, leaving his flanks nearly undefended. Reaching Qak-Zandat at noon on December 2 and finding only 3,500 Tamaranian militia defending the city, Xa'wilik ordered a direct frontal assault with the Dreknathian insect troops. The overwhelming numbers of the Dreknathians ensured victory and routed the Tamaranians, although the Dreknathian insects suffered 1,400 casualties to the Tamaranians' 27. The militia, along with the 2.1 million residents of Qak-Zandat, fled the city in panic.

Xa'wilik's army speedily occupied Qak-Zandat. Qak-Zandat was a large, beautifully constructed city, and Xa'wilik was fascinated by the Tamaranian architecture. The Coalition army ransacked the city, feasting on captured Tamaranian food and drink (including many unfinished lunches left on dining room tables) and taking any valuables left in the homes.

It was only the next day that Xa'wilik realized that he had blundered into another trap. All the splendid feasts, seemingly abandoned in haste, had actually been laced with powerful insecticides. Nearly 120,000 Dreknathian insects and 2,000 American GIs died of the poisoning, and nearly all the rest were badly sickened. Only the 30,000 Sladebots were able to fight when 20,500 Tamaranian militia led by Prince Richard, including the 3,500 that had been driven from the city the previous day, returned to retake the city. In two days of vicious house-to-house fighting, the Tamaranians, who had the advantage of knowing the city's layout, destroyed all 30,000 Sladebots at the cost of 6,000 killed and 9,000 wounded. During the battle, they also killed any ailing Coalition troops they found, including General Xa'wilik. The "Battle of Qak-Zandat" was properly described as a massacre, as an entire field army of almost 200,000 invaders was completely annihilated, with not a single survivor, by a Tamaranian force only one tenth of its size.

The Coalition forces immediately claimed that the Qak-Zandat massacre was a war crime, as the Tamaranians had refused to take prisoners or give medical treatment to the poisoned Coalition troops. Meanwhile, General Qrqxcran, who had won a hard-fought victory at Galarak the same day, began to seriously doubt the wisdom of this war. He sent a report to the Gordanian High Command on December 6, saying that he foresaw "no possibility of victory in this war except at a cost of blood and treasure that would exceed the combined value of all resources on the planet" and urging a withdrawal. However, the Gordanian High Command refused to quit:

"_Already too much blood has been shed to make an honorable peace. We will only be fooled by the Tamaranians once; we can learn and adapt to their tricks. Furthermore, even if there were to be an unlimited number of such maneuvers, the honor of the Empire is now at stake, and we are compelled by it to succeed in our quest to subjugate Tamaran, whatever the cost. We must make clear that such resistance to the Gordanian Empire will not be tolerated nor successful."_


	3. Weapons and Wits: An Early Stalemate

**Part I: Weapons and Wits** (Continued)

An Early Stalemate

Within the first four days of Operation Tamaranian Freedom, the Coalition force had already lost almost a quarter of its combat strength. After finally occupying Galarak and Qak-Zandat by December 10, the Coalition troops hunkered down to await reinforcements.

As the Gordanians and Dreknathians raised a larger army, the remaining Coalition ground army of about 750,000 set up a temporary defensive perimeter encompassing Galarak, Qak-Zandat and the petroleum areas. For four months—from December 10, 2007 to April 22, 2008—the beleaguered Coalition army, assisted by Gordanian orbital bombardment, air support, and constant Dreknathian reinforcements, held off repeated assaults by the Tamaranians. In these assaults the Coalition forces lost more heavily than the Tamaranians, and the assaults failed mainly due to the cowardice of Tamaranian militiamen—a fact that frustrated their commander, Prince Richard Grayson, to no end. However, these battles also gave Richard a notorious reputation in the Coalition camps, as he constantly seemed to inflict far more damage on them than they could do to him.

Prince Richard, ironically, was a former American citizen and superhero in the United States. He had been trained by the famous Gotham City hero Batman, and later led the superhero group known as the Teen Titans in Jump City, California, at first using the alias of "Robin" but later changing his alias to "Nightwing." In the summer of 2006, Richard married his longtime girlfriend, Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, and left the Titans to serve in his new capacity as the Prince of Tamaran. At the time, of course, no one could have predicted that he would one day be fighting the very people he had once dedicated himself to protecting. When war broke out, Prince Richard's duties included leading the Tamaranian soldiers in battle, and he did so alongside his wife. He masterminded the stratagem that led to the slaughter of 190,000 Coalition troops at Qak-Zandat, and overnight became the most respected Tamaranian general, despite his non-Tamaranian birth. However, this respect did not ensure that his troops always followed his orders.

When Richard led 200,000 militiamen in an assault on Dreknathian lines 20 miles south of Galarak on the afternoon of December 10, the battle went well initially as the Dreknaths fell back. However, when armored Gordanian infantry came to the rescue with their heavy weapon staffs, Richard could only look on helplessly as his entire army turned tail and flew from the fight. Knowing that he could not win the battle alone, Richard returned, alone and despondent, to his own camp. The Coalition had not chased the routing Tamaranians, and would not have been able to catch them if they had tried. In the meantime, Koriand'r's army had failed in an earlier assault that day 100 miles north of Richard's attempt. Richard told his wife what had happened in his battle, and complained: "The way this is going, Kory, we might as well just surrender the planet. I hate to say this about our people, but it's true: They're cowards! They're not worth all the effort we make for them!"

Koriand'r reassured him: "Don't worry about losing a battle, Nightwing. Tamaranian militias have always been like this. Tamaran is known not for brave warriors, but for legendary guerrilla tactics. It's always better to live to fight another day—"

"My men are gone, Kory! They—"

"They will return to you, as I have said," Koriand'r responded. "Our military law clearly states that troops have the right to disregard any order that leads to certain death. In return for this freedom to live, however, they accept the obligation to fight another day. They will report for duty tomorrow morning, I am certain."

Princess Koriand'r was right. Early the next morning, Richard personally flew out on his polymerized-titanium cape/glider wing to look at the camps that had been deserted the previous evening. Fires were burning in all of them; 186,000 militiamen awaited him, some of them wounded from the previous day's battle. Richard, still angry, wanted to punish them for dereliction of duty, but Koriand'r finally persuaded her husband to let them go. No matter how frustrated Richard was, the Tamaranian soldiers had been fully within their legal rights to run from battle and were not to be penalized.

Slaughter at Tick'qan

With the Gordanian armada controlling the skies above Tamaran, the faltering Coalition positions were rapidly reinforced with quickly-raised Dreknathian troops, which had no equipment and needed no training. From December 10 to April 22, on average the Gordanian fleet withdrew 60,000 wounded Coalition troops every week and reinforced the position with 100,000 fresh Dreknathian insectoids. As the withdrawn American and Gordanian units were generally superior to the Dreknathian reinforcements that replaced them, the increasingly Dreknathian force hanging on by its fingernails on the surface of Tamaran was progressively weakened. By April 21, the Tamaranian defenders had recaptured Galarak and Qak-Zandat.

Meanwhile, the Gordanian government scrambled to raise a larger army. The Gordanian Congress authorized a draft on December 16, making Gordanian males between the ages of 20 and 40 eligible for forced military service. By April 1, about 500,000 new Gordanian troops had been trained and were ready for deployment. They were quickly ferried to Tamaran and, on April 22, landed near the well-defended Tamaranian capital city, Tick'qan.

Prince Richard and the Tamaranian government, however, were well prepared. They had known for months that a secondary landing by the Coalition forces was inevitable, and Richard had presciently guessed that the capital would be the next target. Tick'qan was already defended by several artillery batteries, but Richard knew that this alone would not be enough to hold off the attackers. Accordingly, Richard devised another brilliant stratagem, code-named ID4 (Imperial Defense, version 4) and implemented on April 5, 2008.

Richard knew that after his trap at Qak-Zandat, the Coalition would forever think twice before rushing to take a seemingly undefended city, or consuming any of the supplies within it. Thus, he gave the following plan to Galifore on December 27:

"_Tick'qan should be completely evacuated, including all 118 artillery pieces. These artillery pieces will be replaced by painted decoys, which the Gordanians should quickly locate and destroy. Meanwhile, the Tamaranian troops will lie concealed in a vast network of tunnels dug deep under Tick'qan and the surrounding lands. The Gordanians, upon finding the city deserted, should remember the explosive-rigged oil fields and the poisoned food and will proceed slowly and cautiously, inspecting each and every building top to bottom for explosives. They also will probably examine all supplies they capture before consuming any. In order to keep up this illusion and ensure that they continue searching for explosives, the outermost parts of the city's outer ring will be rigged with actual explosives. Then, as the Gordanians try to disarm the bombs, we sneak out from the tunnels, a few at a time, and snipe at Gordanian soldiers from behind. It is imperative that our tunnel entrances not be discovered, so that to the Gordanians it appears as if shots fly out of nowhere and take down their soldiers. If they do discover the tunnels, they should be dug underground to a point some distance from Tick'qan and then emerge from the ground. The tunnels are also rigged with explosives so that they can be made to cave in upon Gordanian explorers._" –Imperial Defense version 4, December 27

For several days, Richard's plan happened exactly as he envisioned it. The Gordanian army, under the Gordanian general Torann, surrounded the city and began to disarm the bombs. After the first few inexplicably shot Gordanian troops were found on April 24, the Gordanians were extremely edgy and paranoid. Even when they had searched a building thoroughly and found no Tamaranians inside, Gordanian soldiers stationed in that building might still be found dead two hours later, with no trace of the assailant. Even the Gordanian heavy tanks could be hit by powerful anti-tank grenades that seemed to have no source. (In fact, the tunnel entrances were disguised with holographic projectors.)

However, after a whole week of sniping attacks, during which four Gordanian tanks and 160 infantry were lost, General Torann began to suspect what was going on. He changed his strategy and ordered his troops to dig into the ground. On May 5, one squad of Gordanians dug into the concrete roof of one of Richard's tunnels. Torann immediately ordered a section of the tunnel to be exposed and then pierced. Meanwhile, other Gordanian diggers had discovered two other parts of the tunnel network. On May 6, the Battle of Tick'qan commenced when Gordanian troops simultaneously raided the three sections they had found.

In the tunnels the fighting was fierce, bloody, and not in the Tamaranians' favor. In the narrow confines of these tunnels, the normal Tamaranian field tactics of attacking enemy weak points and rapid retreat could not be used. From May 6 to June 11, 100,000 armored Gordanian heavy infantry worked their way down the levels of tunnels, while Torann kept his light infantry and vehicles above ground and continued disarming the bombs in the buildings. On June 11 the Gordanians finally occupied the seventh and lowest level of the tunnels, 140 meters below the surface. By this time the Gordanian forces involved in the operation had suffered 27,200 killed and 45,000 wounded, while only 11,000 of the original 70,000 Tamaranian defenders survived—a stark contrast from the battles that had occurred up to this point, in which Tamaranian casualties had been relatively light. Richard, fortunately, was among the survivors.

The Gordanians prepared to seal off and destroy the tunnels. However, under Prince Richard's plan, the Tamaranians beat them to the punch, using the remote-controlled tunnel mines to seal and destroy the tunnels with almost 30,000 Gordanian troops still inside. By nightfall on June 11, the capital of the Tamaranian Empire finally fell to the Coalition, but Richard's well-laid plans had rendered it a Pyrrhic victory.

Peace at Any Cost

The Battle of Tick'qan was the costliest engagement to either side up to this point in the war. On the Coalition side, about twenty percent of the wounded Gordanian troops died of their injuries or from the destruction of the tunnels, and an additional thirty-three percent of them would never fully recover from their injuries, remaining permanently disabled to some degree. Combined with the 27,200 Gordanians killed in action and the 30,000 uninjured who were trapped by the Tamaranian mines, the effective combat strength of General Torann's army was thus reduced by more than 80,000 troops in a single battle, including the vast majority of his powerful heavy infantry forces.

Despite the massive casualties suffered by the Coalition troops in the five-week battle, Tick'qan proved to be one of the low points of Prince Richard's military leadership. On the Tamaranian side, 59,000 soldiers—including 54,000 militiamen—had been killed in action. Of the surviving 10,390 militiamen and 671 Tamaranian Imperial Guards, at least 10,500 had been wounded to some degree, and 373 of them were permanently crippled. The exceptional regenerative capabilities of Tamaranian anatomy undoubtedly saved many troops from wounds that would have crippled or killed healthy Gordanians. Still, no Tamaranian military force in history had ever suffered such severe casualties from a single battle.

Tactically, the Battle of Tick'qan was an astonishing victory for the Tamaranians, who had inflicted considerably more casualties than they sustained against an enemy superior in both equipment and numbers. Strategically, however, Tick'qan was a nearly decisive Gordanian victory. The Gordanians had taken the Tamaranian capital city and, more importantly, completely crushed the Tamaranian will to fight. The Tamaranian people, fearing the casualties of an extended war, were ready for a truce.

Morale in the Tamaranian camps was likewise low. Many of Prince Richard's few remaining troops were convinced that he had deliberately denied them their constitutional right to flee from an unfavorable battle. This belief seemed to be supported by Richard's earlier attempt to punish another group of militia for cowardice at Galarak as well as his seeming willingness to sacrifice his own men if necessary to crush the enemy. Whether justified or not, Richard's troops were angry at their prince. On June 19, 27 mutineers led by General Tandroan surprised Richard in his tent and took him prisoner. With the support of Emperor Galifore's royal council, Tandroan sent messengers to Torann's camp asking for a truce. Tandroan and his men hoped to end the war and save Tamaran by offering the hated Prince Richard as a sacrifice to the Gordanians, in much the same way as they had traded the young Princess Koriand'r fifteen years earlier.

By July 3, the Gordanian High Command had conveyed a response through Torann to the Tamaranian peace feeler, offering to negotiate in a neutral setting. A cease-fire was declared on Tamaran the next day. On July 14, talks began on Centari III between the Tamaranian delegation led by Minister of Diplomacy Tarqia'a and the Coalition represented by Gordanian Congressman Zaxcabilik, Dreknathian Ambassador Blackfire, and American mercenary Slade Wilson.

The Coalition representatives began by outlining their price for peace, in a document that, like many others in history, would be known as the "Four Points":

_1. Emperor Galifore shall abdicate and Tamaran will institute a democratic system under Coalition supervision_

_2. Tamaran shall provide its most advanced solar technology for the use of members of the Coalition_

_3. Tamaran shall give Coalition nations the sole rights to any petroleum and natural gas deposits that may be discovered on Tamaran_

_4. Prince Richard shall be given to Gordania as a slave_

Just minutes before the scheduled signing of the peace treaty, however, the delegates received news that Prince Richard had escaped his imprisonment. This was to be the first of many unfortunate delays in the peace process, which would ultimately bring tragedy to all four of the empires involved.


End file.
